Honey

I’ve long been on a search for the perfect honey. Though I still love the flavour, I find the ones in the supermarket leave a uncomfortable astringency on the back of my throat. I buy local honey wherever I stumble upon it, but somehow it’s never the honey of my dreams. I think my dissatisfaction comes from reading the Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton as a child and imagining I too was eating those marvellous treats called “Pop Cakes”:

“As soon as you bit into them they went pop! and you suddenly found your mouth filled with new honey from the middle of the little cakes. Fanny took seven, one after another, for she was rather greedy.

The Enchanted Wood, Enid Blyton

I could almost taste the exploding honey on my tongue. Clearly they were delicious and you’d want to keep eating them, like Fanny. More-ishness, though, is an elusive characteristic. You just know it’s good when you know. If I had to really spell out what I’m searching for, I can’t be more specific than a good deep honey flavour, not just sweetness with a hint of flavour, which is what I find a lot of honeys give me. The strong taste of Leatherwood has never overly appealed though. I think it’s one of those things, like coriander, that you either love or hate. I’m also not a fan of crystals, flavourings or any other embellishments. I just want clear, runny honey that tastes good. So why is it so hard to find?

So have my honey prayers been answered, finally? Absolutely, maybe…

I was buying bakers’ flour at my local Scoop Wholefoods and naturally had to scope out what else was lining the shelves, jars of random goodies being my kryptonite, when I reached the honey section. They had kindly divided the honey into three categories: mild, medium and rich. My eyes were instantly drawn to the rich section, expecting to only find leatherwoods, but instead my gaze locked on something I had never seen before – Bloodwood! The very name of it gave me a thrill.

Now as a horror writer and gothic book buff, this appealed to me on so many levels. The dark, caramel colour ensorcelled me, enough that I didn’t even check the price. I simply had to have it, and so on my way back to the car, it was also essential to make a stop at the baker to grab some fresh sourdough with which to consume with my prize. I felt positively like a villain, dragging some innocent back to my castle.

Jasminda (as I’ve christened the jar) sung her siren song  for several long hours, as I’m on the 16/8 diet and couldn’t eat until 12. Then, because I’m an adult, I ate a proper lunch of vegetable soup before I finally gave in and cracked her open.

I know you’re on the edge of your seat now. “Was it good?”, you ask. Yes, yes it was. It is an excellent honey. It is the colour of golden syrup and the flavour is bold but not cloying. There is no harsh note on the finish, just well-rounded lingering sweetness. It is the best honey I’ve bought yet. I  ate a spoonful on its own and had to stop myself from taking another one. I can imagine it elevating my Christmas gingerbread to all new heights. I almost didn’t want to post about it and instead rush off and buy the entire stock of it, as the Bloodwood only flowers for a few months of the year so stock is limited. But, as I mentioned before, I’m an adult, so I didn’t and here it is!